


Chills

by THE_TOASTER_THAT_COULD



Category: Letterkenny (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Coming Out, Gen, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-11-21 13:49:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11358780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/THE_TOASTER_THAT_COULD/pseuds/THE_TOASTER_THAT_COULD
Summary: Wayne and Daryl consider that maybe being alone for the winter may not be such a bad thing after all. Heck, maybe they aren't even alone after all.





	1. Some Introspection at the Produce Stand

**Author's Note:**

> Set between the end of season 2 and the start of season 3, which comes out tomorrow. Obviously I haven't seen season 3 yet so this doesn't reflect the canon resolution of the whole Wayne situation.   
> Tags are incomplete, more tags will be added as the story progresses. Feel free to ask for specific tags to be added.

It was a relatively chilly day in early fall and Wayne and Darryl were sitting at the produce stand, reflecting on the summer.

Sure things had been a bit rocky for Wayne towards the end there, what with Angie wanting him back and Tanis gettin' that abortion. 

He was still a little fucked up about that. Wayne never thought he'd want kids, they just weren't his thing, but after much consideration he figures he just doesn't want to settle down with some nice girl (or Tanis. Heck is she ever pretty, but she couldn't never be called a nice girl) and have a family. 

That line of thinking was solidified much like cement when he just couldn't make anything with Rosie stick. Fuck, he sure tried and she sure was a sweetheart but aside for their love of beautiful dogs there just wasn't no connection. 

"Hey Wayne?" 

"What's up big shoots?" 

"You know, after all the effort was put in to get you a girl, you're still gonna be alone this winter."

Wayne takes a slow sip of his beer, squints off into the distance and considers the aforementioned statement.  

"Well I guess that is true, though I have been thinking lately that might not be such a bad thing."

Darry looks over at Wayne, confused.

"Why though? You gotta figure no man wants to be alone in the winter"

"Fuck Darr just leave it, I'm not gonna be alone, I've got you and Katy and maybe that's all I really need!"

Wayne stands up stiffly and abruptly from his chair, and storms off towards the barn, presumably to find something to do and also to get away from Darryl.

Darry gets that, Wayne's been a bit touchy since the end of the summer, not that he'd ever say anything 'bout it. He did kind of guess it had something to do with heading into his first winter without Angie and probably also the whole deal with Tanis, but winter in general is always a hard season for a farmer like Wayne, who goes stir crazy from the significant drop off in work to be done. 

To be completely honest, Darry never thought much about being alone himself for the winter. He'd always mostly assumed that was the way things would go for him. He certainly wasn't about to settle down with a girl, and really, if he could hang around with Wayne and whatever he had going on he was just peachy, really.

He did certainly think a lot about what Wayne thought of him not wanting to settle down with a girl, but then again, Wayne probably didn't know. Which was surprising considering how long they'd known each other, and even more surprising considering that close call in the spring when McMurray had found him and Shoresy going at it last spring behind the ag hall. Shit, after that he'd figured the whole town would know by the end of the night but after Shoresy split McMurray just gave him a pat on the back and said to be more careful. 

Sometimes he thought about telling Wayne, but the reality of it is that there's no good way to tell your best bud you're super fruity loops in a place like Letterkenny. 

Darry downed the last of his beer and stood up. He figured he'd better go find Wayne and help him with the evening choring. 

 

 

 


	2. A Fuss Over a Game of Crokinole

Now, there's few things better than a game of crokinole in the evening after supper, and as far as non-violent ways to directly address your frustrations, crokinole is about as good as it gets as far as Wayne is concerned.

Darry is also in general, a fan of crokinole, even if he knows damn well it's not his forte, but he figures maybe this time losing might be in his best interest anyways.

Wayne seemed to still be a bit tense from the earlier conversation, and the whole thing was really starting to annoy Darry, who overall just didn't enjoy Wayne being short with him. 

Unfortunately, Wayne's mood seemed to have no bearing on his skill at crokinole, and he won the first game decisively, at which point Daryl decided a change of tactics would be necessary, in the form of flicking the disks so that they would become airborne and hit Wayne.

"Darry if you don't fuck right off and play the game I swear I'm gonna-"

"Well fuck, you already won a round! C'mon, let me have my fun!"

Wayne grabs the table and stands up.

"I'm not here to be your target practice, christ Darry what's got into ya today?"

"Nothing! I just, I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to piss you off or nothin', I just know winter's a rough season for ya, and as your best buddy I do try and look out for you"

"Darry, I'll ask for help if I need it but I'm not the type of guy who needs another guy running around watching out for me. I'm not mad at you but I will be right shortly if you keep up this nonsense!"

Darry shuffles a disk around on the table in front of him. 

"Fuck if I don't know that."

"Anyways, if we're not going to finish this game, I'm going to bed. Fucking McMurray has set the ag hall meeting for 9am and I'm not about to doze off in the middle of that proceeding, though to be honest a nap might be a better use of my time. G'night Darry."

Wayne heads up the stairs, dog in tow. For someone who's so concerned about how Wayne's doing, Darry sure might want to take a look at his own situation. Other than his frankly very showy affections for Bonnie McMurray he's never had a sweetie as far back as Wayne can remember, and if anyone should be worried about being alone for the winter, it's Darry.

Wayne peels off his jeans and unbuttons his shirt, and then climbs into bed.

The good news, he thinks, is that Darry has a super short attention span and will likely have moved onto another idea in the morning, and his impending loneliness will be forgotten. The thing is, in general, he just isn't a fan of people. You'd have to be pretty special to be someone he'd want to spend any time at all with him, and super special to be considered a close friend.

As far as relationships go, he doesn't see any point in perusing anything with anyone he wouldn't want to spend time with, because that's just silly. His thing with Angie had been the product of Angie being relatively alright to be around and the expectation that Wayne as an upstanding citizen of Letterkenny would make good on his parents' name and settle down. That was all fine and good until Angie proved she had no morals whatsoever, which quite frankly was a deal breaker for him. Aside from having his pride relatively hurt by the whole incident, Wayne didn't really see an issue with no longer being with her. Squirrely Dan once asked him if he missed the toe curling and his answer was a decisive not really. You see, he figures he could get into the toe curling with someone he really cared about, to make them happy, but he just didn't care enough about Angie for it to be worth the effort. The kissing, he could get behind, that felt good enough and he liked it just fine, but the toe curling just felt like fulfilling an obligation he didn't care for. 

Being an upstanding citizen certainly is very important to him, it's just proper, but as long as he can run the farm he figures he's got some time until people really start talking and hopefully by then he will have found someone he can stand enough to help him do it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started this I really wasn't sure where I was going to take it, but now I think I'm going to run with ace Wayne and gay Darry and see where it goes.  
> Also I watched season 3 this morning and holy heck was it ever good, I liked it better than season 2 for sure and maybe even more than season 1.


	3. Conflict at McMurray's Meeting

Wayne knocks on Darry's bedroom door.

"Darry if you're coming to the meeting you had better get your ass out of bed right now because if we don't leave in 5 minutes we're going to be late!"

There was no response from the other side of the door, and he figured Darry was likely just going to sleep through the whole meeting anyways, so he just left him be. 

The drive there was admittedly quiet without Darry, and it was a silence that Wayne just wasn't used to.

The meeting itself was as nap-worthy as it usual, with the highlight motions of the day concerning the purchasing of non-slip mats for the entryway and air fresheners for the kitchen. Despite the longevity of the meeting, after it was wrapped up no one seemed in too much of a hurry to get anywhere. It would be improper for Wayne to be the first one out the door, so he just leaned back and nursed his coffee, surveying the scene.

McMurray noticed him not engaging in the thrilling conversation, and made his way over. 

"How're-"

"How're yo-"

"Ah fuck McMurray figure it out"

"Sorry Wayne. Anyways, I did notice today your pal Daryl was absent from the proceedings"

Wayne gives a curt nod.

"Yeah he was still sleeping when I went to leave and considering he was likely to sleep through the meeting anyways I had figured it would be better to leave him be."

"Ah I'd figured he'd just gone out and spent the night if you know what I mean. Who knows, maybe he'll be choring by the time you get back."

"No McMurray I don't know what you mean."

"C'mon Wayne, you're not stupid, Daryl's not a kid, he's probably got some sweetie hidden away somewhere."

Wayne pours back the last of his coffee and shakes his head. 

"Fuck McMurray, you know as well as I do that Darry hasn't had a sweetie as long as I can remember and asides, it's impolite to talk about it."

McMurray's eyebrows shoot up.

"So he hasn't been telling you then? He's been around with a few of the hockey players, the good lad."

"Good for him, some of those girls on the women's team are right pretty. Like I said though, it's impolite to talk about." 

McMurray shakes his head.

"Nah Wayne, I do agree with you some of those girls are certainly easy on the eyes, but I don't think they're his type if you know what I mean."

Wayne squints harder at McMurray, if that's even possible. 

"No McMurray, I don't know what you mean, Darry is worth any pretty gal that'll have him, and I'm giving you one last warning, it's impolite to talk about."

"Wayne, buddy, your pal's a bit bent, a homosexual if you will."

Wayne hucks his empty styrofoam cup at the ground at McMurray's feet.

"Fuck you McMurray, that's impolite to talk about!"

He makes his way to his truck. Honestly though fuck McMurray, he has no right to be spreading shit about Darry. Though now that he thinks of it, he kinda wonders if Darry might be a bit fruity loops. He knows it's not proper for him to think about, but it would for sure explain Darry's lack of any dating history and probably also his excessive displays of affection for Bonnie McMurray, if he was trying to hide it from people. 

It really grinds his gears that hypothetically, if Darry _were_ a bit gay, that he'd feel the need to hide it in general. Like fuck, it's 2017, mostly the only people who are still homophobists are degens anyways, and they don't really matter when it comes right down to it. Sure, Letterkenny won't be hosting any pride parades anytime soon but it's not like he'd catch too much shit for it or anything, and if he really did want to go to a parade he could always go to the city for that. 

Wayne has to shake himself a little after his thoughts run off like that. It's not proper to be considering such a personal aspect of his pal's life. If Darry was into the D, surely he'd tell Wayne himself on the grounds that their friendship has built a certain level of trust between them. Though now that he does think about it, he stereo-typically is the kind of guy who would not necessarily be cool with that kind of a confession from such a close buddy. Heck, they'd even slept together on camping trips and the like. Wayne makes a conscious vow to try and be a little more open and obviously accepting of the rainbow folk, and puts his truck into drive and directs it towards home.


	4. Some Brisk Afternoon Relevations

When Daryl wakes up, it's pretty clear he's missed the meeting and Wayne has left without him, so he just eats his yoghurt cup by himself and goes straight to choring. By the time Wayne rolls into the laneway, he's got about twice as much done as would be done if they had both gone to the meeting, so he calls it a win and heads over to greet Wayne.

"How was it today?"

"Oh just thrilling as usual. They've decided to get some 'fresh spring' scented air fresheners for the kitchen, because apparently the smell of burning casseroles doesn't fit the agricultural vibe."

Darry nods and horks a loogie over his shoulder.

"Aw fuck me then, I missed a good one."

"You sure did. Anywho, I did want to fix that bit of the electric fence that won't catch a charge before it gets too chilly."

They work along and get everything they can do done by the early afternoon, so they wind up relaxing on the deck with a dart and watching the clouds go by.

"Now Darry, I know it's not proper for me to be askin' and I'm not askin' as per say, but something was brought to my attention today after the meeting."

"Oh, well what was it?"

Wayne takes a breath and blows his smoke into the brisk afternoon air.

"Well, see now, it's almost not worth talking about, but McMurray brought it up, like to slander you see, and I wanted to clear up any rumours about my good pal so I'd figured I'd ask you about it."

Daryl feels his stomach drop. McMurray wouldn't have, would he? That one time was like, 8 months ago, and he hadn't said anything since, so why now? Maybe he was just waxing to Wayne about Bonnie, that might make sense. Darry takes a deep breath of his own.

"Well spit it out now, we wouldn't want any rumours floating around unnecessarily."

Wayne breaks his stare at the general distance directly in front of him and suddenly finds the deck directly to the left of him overly interesting.

"Well, yeah, well, okay, he said you had been around with a few hockey players."

Fuck McMurray, the fucking degen. It was one guy, one time. He'd been too spooked to try anything with anyone since. He figures Letterkenny does have a women's team, after all, so he does have an out to play stupid. Darry swallows and picks at the hem of his shirt.

"Well yeah, some of those girls are right sweet."

Wayne makes a grumbly whining noise.

"McMurray well, he said it wasn't the girls."

Darry's breath leaves him. He can't lie to Wayne, it's against his code of morals, but he can't get a read on him to figure out how to respond either. It doesn't help that Wayne is still facing mostly away from him and looking down at the deck, wearing roughly the same expression he wears 99% of the time anyways. He doesn't think Wayne would like, punch him or anything, but it would be a real shame for them to lose their years of friendship due to general awkwardness. He must lose track of how long he's in his head for, because Wayne's hand on his shoulder startles him back to reality. 

"Darry, well, you do know that's okay, right?" 

"Yeah."

They sit there in silence for a few minutes, before Wayne clears his throat.

"So, uh, do you have a guy right now?"

Darry shakes his head.

"Nah, I was fooling around a bit with Shoresy in the spring but after McMurray caught us 'round the back of the ag hall after the Easter dance, well, I've been a bit hesitant of looking for someone."

"Pump the breaks, McMurray found out on accident and now he's spreading it around the town like it's hot news? Why I oughta!"

"Fuck I hope he isn't spreading it around, I really don't want it being common knowledge, you know?."

Wayne nods.

"Well I'll talk to him tomorrow, maybe even bring Boots and the Ginger along to make sure he keeps his mouth shut. Though now that I think of it, wouldn't being out make it easier for you to find a sweetie?"

"Well I suppose it would, though I'm not in any big rush to do that at the moment."

Wayne nods.

"Yeah, finding a sweetie is just more trouble than it's worth. First you gotta find someone you actually don't mind spending time with, then you gotta get into that stupid toe curling, it's just a lot of effort with not a lot of reward."

"Pump the brakes Wayne."

Wayne considers for a second.

"I'll soft pump."

"Good. So you're saying toe curling isn't worth the effort? Fuck it's worth the effort even for someone who's not your sweetie!"

"No way it's worth the effort, why would anybody ever want to be that close to anybody they didn't care a whole lot about?"

Darry is just astounded by this information. 

"So it doesn't feel good for you? Don't you ever get horny?"

"No, I mean not to rain on your parade but the whole affair generally feels a bit gross to me. And yeah, I guess sometimes, but there's nothing wrong with pounding out a quickie by yourself."

This conversation is clearly making the both of them uncomfortable, but Darry figures they're too far in to stop now so he might as well ask all the questions that come to mind. 

"Fair enough. What about like kissing? Or Cuddling? Where do you stand on that?"

Wayne takes a sip of his beer and fiddles with the lable a bit.

"Well I do like kissing, if it's with the right person. Cuddling I have to be in the mood for, and it's got to be less than about, oh, 25 degrees otherwise it's just uncomfortable."

"Uh-huh. Maybe you just need to find the right person for all of it?"

Wayne shakes his head.

"No, I don't think so, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about it and I've come to the conclusion that's just the way things are gonna be."

"Well, what about with a guy? Maybe that would be better for you?"

"I shouldn't think so, though I guess I never have thought about it much."

Darry knows he should probably back the fuck off and mind his own business, but well, truth is he's wanted to kiss Wayne as far back as he can remember and even though he figured it was pretty much off the table, on account that they were a)buddies and b) both dudes, so he figures it couldn't hurt to broach the subject.

"Well, if you ever did want to think about it, I'm here and well, you've already proven you don't mind spending time with me so I guess by your standards you're already halfway there." 

 

 

 


	5. A Dart and a Fight at the Bar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, sorry for the delay in posting this next chapter, I went camping and forgot to post this before I left. The next one shouldn't be as long of a wait!

Now, Wayne wasn't the sort of fucker who was about to have a life crisis when confronted with the fact that his best bud is gay, but he certainly was the sort of fucker who was going to beat the shit out of whoever was sharing that information without his pal's permission. Clearly, McMurray had been trying to start something, but like, if you wanna spread shit head to the fields. He can't quite figure out what exactly McMurray would have hoped to accomplish by airing out Darry's closet, so to speak, because like, Darry isn't exactly a prominent, upstanding community figure. He'd always had a good reputation, likely by way of association and the fact that he was in general a solid guy, but on account of his less than upstanding family background and reputation of gettin' wild at ag hall dances, being gay likely would not ruin his life or anything.

When Wayne and Daryl showed up at Modean's II on Thursday night, there was no sign of McMurray, which was odd considering the fact that it was thirsty Thursday and there was a special on puppers tall boys, but they sat down at the bar anyhow and got themselves a drink. By the time McMurray did show up, they were both pleasanly buzzed, and Wayne was certainly ready for a fight. He took one look at Darry, ordered a shot for each of them, downed the shots with a decisive double tap, and made his way over to McMurray.

"How're ya now Wayne?"

"Good, n' you?"

McMurray nods.

"Not s'bad."

"McMurray, I've got an issue."

McMurray takes a sip of his beer and motions for Wayne to continue.

"That conversation we had at the meeting the other day, I think it was out of line."

"Now Wayne, don't get your panties in a twist, I was just trying to make conversation. You and Darry are buddies so I figured he'd be a fair topic."

"See now McMurray, here's the thing, and I'm gonna tell you, it's not proper to be talking _about_ someone's personal life, to someone else, when they're not there. That's gossiping and it's just not polite."

"C'mon, how was I supposed to know he doesn't share all his secrets with you, for fuck's sake the two of you practically live together."

"That's exactly the point, it was a secret, and I don't take to kindly to people spreading my pal's secrets around like the latest edition of the _Letterkenny Star_ " 

Wayne figures now would be a good time to unbutton his cuffs, just to give McMurray an idea of where this is heading. McMurray watches as Wayne does exactly that, and swallows uncomfortably.

"Hey now, there's no need for us to take this outside, now is there?"

"How's about we go for a dart, and you can put together an apology and think about how to keep your mouth shut, and I can decide if you're going to get punched."

McMurray seems to understand it's in his best interest to offer Wayne a dart, and follow him out the back door. Unfortunately, he seems to have trouble with keeping his mouth shut.

"Wayne, I just don't see why an apology is necessary here, I was just trying to be nice and make conversation, its not my fault Darry can't find a better place to get it on than 'round the back of the ag hall."

Wayne flicks his smoke to the ground and stops it out, and then promptly delivers a nice right hook to McMurray's jaw. He just wails on McMurray for a seemingly infinite time period. It's not really a fair fight, sure McMurray gets a few good hits in, Wayne's eyebrow feels like it's probably split and there's blood on his face, but the fact of the matter is, McMurray just isn't a very good fighter. 

The fight ends with McMurray crouched and leaning against the wall. He spits some blood onto the ground and looks up at Wayne.

"Fuck me, I'd have never brought it up if I thought I was going to get smashed up by his angry boyfriend."

Wayne is winding up to knock him out when he hears the door open, shattering the bubble of the fight. Darry is standing there, in the light of the bar, holding his drink. He would have known damn well what was going to happen when Wayne and McMurray exited the building, and he looked like he simply wanted to check and see how things were going, but something about seeing him standing there in the light like that fucked with Wayne real good. He lowered his fist and shook his head at McMurray.

"I'm not his boyfriend, and you got everything you had coming to ya. Learn to keep your mouth shut."

With that Wayne turns around and goes to follow Darry back into the bar. 

"You sure got him good there, eh Wayne? But you didn't have to, I don't need you to fight my battles, alright? Oh fuck, you're bleeding. Fuck this, let's go home."

Wayne pays his tab, and grabs his jacket, and they head off into the cool night. Neither of them are sober enough to drive, and Darry doesn't seem like he wants to talk, so they walk in silence back to Darry's mum's place, which is close enough to walk to, unlike the farm. They don't have to worry much about Darry's mum actually being there, on account that she'd been working nights lately, and even if she were there, the two of them had crashed there so many times she wouldn't even bat an eyelid at having them there.

In his slightly inebriated state, Wayne took the time to consider the conversation they'd had the other day. He did kind of realize that while he never really thought of kissing dudes, never mind Darry, Darry almost certainly had thought about kissing him. Wayne didn't really know how that made him feel, he supposes it might be alright to kiss Darry, because well, he did really like the guy. If he took the time to think about it, he might even say Darry was cute, probably cuter than Angie or Rosie. 

All in all though, he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to enter sweetheart territory with his best pal. Sure, they were close and Wayne genuinely enjoyed spending time with Darry, heck, he could even see them running the farm together. But then there was the issue that well, Wayne wasn't really sure if he was even a bit gay, and he also didn't want to let Darry down with any expectations of toe curling. 

They reach the house and let themselves in. It's gotten pretty cold, and it's nearly as cold in the house as it is outside.

"Aw fuck, she must be out of wood for the stove again."

They take off their shoes, but leave their jackets on. 

"I'll have to bring her out some from the farm, it's not right for it to be so cold like this in here."

"Thanks Wayne, you can take the cost of it out of my pay." 

"No, it's fine."

They head upstairs, and it's even colder up there.

"Fuck, it would be just my luck to get hypothermia in my own damn bed and die."

Wayne knows that the best way to ward of the chill would be to share body heat, but they haven't shared the bed since they were teenagers and Darry had suddenly decided Wayne was too big for them both to sleep comfortable in the single. At this point suggesting it would likely have some implications, especially given the events of the last few days, but Wayne certainly wasn't about to let Daryl freeze to death, and the sleeping bag on the floor certainly wasn't too appealing.

Darry sheds his jacket and his jeans and puts on a pair of flannel pyjama pants. Wayne does the same but doesn't fit into any of Darry's pyjama pants well enough to borrow them, so he just takes his jeans off and leaves it at that. He watched Darry climb into bed, and then unzips the sleeping bag. After a minute of internal struggle, he unzips it all the way, and throws it on top of Darry's blankets.

"Scoot over bud, it's fucking brisk in here."

Daryl looks up at him.

"Are you sure?"

Wayne nods. 

"We used to do it all the time, and the best way to not get hypothermia and die is to share body heat anyhow."

Darry scoots over but looks away from Wayne. 

"Sure, but that was before I figured out how I am."

Wayne climbs in beside Darry. 

"Hey now, I said I'm sure and I'm not about to change my mind."

Wayne tentatively slides his arm around Darry's waist, not to make a move, but just to be more comfortable. Darry leaves it be, and they fall asleep like that, spooning each other. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, they boys' perspectives on being gay and ace are very much based on my own experiences, so they obviously don't represent the experiences of gay and ace people everywhere. 
> 
> Thanks for all the great comments, I'm really happy people are enjoying this!


End file.
